Our History
On October 9, 1973 several men met to organize and establish the New Testament Baptist Church. Following the initial Board of Directors meeting, forty-three prospective members assembled at the church to hear and vote on resolutions proposed by the organizing church committee and agree on the pastor to lead the flock. Rev. Cleo Melvin Cummings, former Pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church, accepted the position and appeared before his new flock for the first time on October 17, 1973. The first regular worship service was held at their new location at 7140 Watt Avenue in North Highlands, California on the third Sunday in October 1973 at 11:00 a.m.
New Testament Baptist Church later acquired the property located at 6746 – 34th Street, North Highlands, California and moved to the new location on the second Sunday in June 1981. In just under 10 years, we completely paid off this second mortgage in March 1991. In an effort to further expand our ministry, we embarked on a new project by opening the New Testament Christian School in 1996. With time comes change, and upon completing 49 years of loving pastoral service, Rev. Cummings retired on July 11, 1999. We are truly grateful to him for the 25 years he faithfully served as the under-shepherd of this flock.
On January 28, 2000, Rev. Robert D. Ester, Sr. of Colorado Springs, Colorado was called to pastor our church family. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Rev. Ester accepted his call to pastor New Testament Baptist Church and began leading us on April 7, 2000. Under his leadership the church took on a new personality and began to refocus on the basics of thoroughly equipping the members through a greater emphasis on education and discipleship training. We also directed our attention to re-establish ourselves in our local community through a concerted effort to evangelize and witness through Outreach. We thank God for orchestrating our path to intersect with Pastor Ester and to call him to lead this flock into the new century. Pastor Ester relocated to Texas in June 2008 and in the interim as the church prays for God’s guidance in acquiring a new Pastor, Rev. Billy Cummings, son of C.M. Cummings, Pastor Emeritus, served as Interim Pastor until February 27, 2010.
Some of the first (charter) members of New Testament still remain, and God graciously continues to add to our family bringing in new witnesses and disciples. God has shown us our need to refocus, realizing He created this local body to be a beacon of light in our community drawing people to Him. We pray that this body of Christian believers will continue to be mindful of God’s power and to know that we are a Church with a vision and a people on a mission for God (Acts 1:1-8).